Eight Legs & Eyes, One Big Heart
by myboygeorge
Summary: Just a little ficlet, told from the perspective of Shiloh, Gil Grissom's pet tarantula, and what happens when Nick offers to babysit her while Grissom's away...Little shoutout to Friends...R&R&Enjoy!
1. A Day In the Life

Shiloh hated when her boyfriend went to conferences. After living together for eight years, she knew when she saw that duffel bag in the living room, it meant one of two things: Either they were going on vacation together or Grissom was going away for something work related. If it was work related usually he took that little cockroach gang of his – Gonzales, Pygmy, Pancake, Dory and King Julian, who called themselves 'C-Unit' – and they'd brag about their travels and how they were nationally renowned athletes; when they came back, it all she could do to not squish each and every one of them. Those conferences where they went with him meant Shiloh had run of the house and get to do all sorts of things she'd normally never get to do if he was there: eat junk food, sleep till noon, watch TV. And while she enjoyed those times of indulgence, she missed her silver-haired sweetie. She'd instinctively tuned her senses to listen for the hum of the engine when his car pulled into the driveway. The moment he walked in the door, her eyes would gleam with excitement as he immediately dropped his keys in the dish and come over to greet her.

"Hey cutie," he'd say to her with his clever smile. "Did you take care of the phone bill like I asked?"

Shiloh would give him her demure half-nod and smile to herself as he watched him pick up the phone and call _her_, letting that boyfriend-stealing humanoid know he was home safe and sound.

"Yes, I'll be back for work tonight, Sara…and Shiloh says hi as well…no I don't think it's weird…she's my pet…some people have dogs, I have a Guyana pink-toe tarantula…love you too…bye."

Grissom hung up the phone, looked back to his terrarium, where his spider had burrowed back into the earth, which he interpreted as a nap. The reality was it was the cold-shouldered jealousy of Sara and how she'd also come to be the other love in his life. He went to the cupboard, picked up a jar of crickets and deposited a few into the tank.

"Little treat for you."

Shiloh knew this game: it was his appeasement to give her favourite snack to her after being away, and Shiloh would creep back out to select the nearest one. From Shiloh's perspective, eating it was her way of apologizing to him for being jealous; after all, he _was_ a human and needed a female who could actually talk back to him, and _didn't_ have eight eyes.

This was their routine and it was one Shiloh liked it. She'd roam around the house – after all she was quite intelligent and had figured out how to unlock the door of her terrarium – and explore the different rooms in Grissom's absence. The most fun one had been the room he called the 'office' where the great humming machine he called his computer lived. It definitely lived; it made just as many squeaks and hums as she did, but what fascinated Shiloh the most was the board of buttons with the letters and numbers and some other squiggly thing she couldn't quite make out. She knew its proper name was a 'keyboard' but Shiloh preferred 'buttons-board', since keys were the things that Grissom turned in the lock to come into the house and Shiloh could see none of those metallic sticks with teeth anywhere on here. The screen was too bright and Shiloh had to darken it a little so she wouldn't go blind, which was done by pressing the little buttons on the front of the screen. Then she'd go exploring on that thing called the 'Internet'; she couldn't use the mouse – humans had such funny words for things; it no more looked like a mouse than Shiloh did a Goliath bird eater – so she'd learned from trial and error how to find things by pushing an assortment of buttons, especially the little arrow keys and the two big left-point arrows. The left point arrow on the bottom meant going to something new and the best way to find something new was the page that first came up. It had only taken a few tries to learn the G-O-O-G-L-E meant finding new things that led to other things. Shiloh's favourite 'screens' to look at were the ones that had the card games on them. Again, from listening to the TV when Grissom fell asleep on his couch watching something called a poker tour, which yet again confused Shiloh but she didn't care about the name since it was the actual learning of the game that interested her. Then once Grissom was gone, she would scuttle on over to the computer, hop up her little system of steps and uses those clever little buttons to find her card game of poker, where the music and lights told her she was kicking computer butt. She'd play until the clock on the screen said 6:45; that was cue to hurry back over to her tank and hop back in before the door rattled and her boyfriend was back once again.

This time around, though something was different. Grissom had her 'playpen' out on the table, that is, the little box she'd lived in when she first came home from the pet store. Usually this meant she was getting fresh earth or a new plant in the tank, but the duffel was also out. Then he had out the phone and was calling not Sara the Boyfriend-Thief but a different person.

"Nick? Yeah, I'm bringing Shiloh by now…yeah her food too…you're sure you cleared this with Renee…alright…I'll see you in a few minutes…right…bye."

Shiloh glanced around nervously. She'd never gone to another house before; if she went away with Grissom, it was always to a hotel. Now, as they were in the car and driving, Shiloh found she was practically shaking with fear. Who were this Nick and Renee? What if they didn't like her? Would they know that her favourite TV show was _Friends_? Or that she liked a little bit of mango as a treat?


	2. Weekend At Nicky's

Shiloh had little time to be worried though, as she'd no sooner completed her list of worries than the car had stopped and they were at a house. She clapped her front legs to the sides of her head so that the noise would be muffled, squeezed her eyes shut as best as she could. Two male voices crept their way through the fine hairs but she couldn't make out all of what they said. Shiloh cracked one of her eight eyes open to see she'd transferred hands from Grissom to this new dude – and he certainly looked like a _dude_; it was a word Shiloh had picked up from her favourite _Friend_, Chandler Bing – and was now going into the pretty little house.

When she opened the rest of her eyes, she saw slate-blue walls, and lots of soft looking furniture. There was a big TV on the one side of the room, lots of pictures, and a red and black quilt on the back of the sofa.

_Not bad,_ she thought. _All we need is a computer and we'll be set._

Then she landed on a nice high kitchen counter, and did a little turn around to get a view of the rest of the world she'd landed in. It was different from Grissom's but not in a bad way. All of a sudden, she saw the face of the dude, who must have been this Nick person Grissom was talking to before, and when he flashed a mile-wide grin Shiloh's fear melted and even her little spider heart went thump-thump.

"Hey little buddy. You're chillin' with me for a few days while Grissom's away on a conference." Nick pressed a finger up against the glass but didn't tap on it, as per his boss' instructions. "My girlfriend Renee will be back soon from her own conference so don't you go thinking of pulling any tricks and escaping while she's home. She might be tempted to beat you with a baseball bat."

Shiloh understood this. She'd watched enough TV to know that a lot of people, especially girl people, didn't like spiders so she knew to be on her best behaviour which meant staying in the playpen…while this 'girlfriend' was home.

"I have to go to work now, so loud parties, long distance calls and little spider orgies are out of the question."

Once he was gone, Shiloh crept up the side of her tank, carefully open the lid and hopped out. She was itching to find the computer; she wanted to play a card game very badly. The closest thing she could find was the thing that looked like what Grissom called his 'laptop', which never ceased to amuse Shiloh, and thankfully it was only a few feet away on the other end of the counter. She looked at it, tentatively pushed a button and wasn't disappointed when she heard the _whoosh_ of the machine's breath. It had woken up and the screen turned on without any help. Then, as Shiloh went to press on the buttons, one of her feet slipped and she saw the little arrow on screen move. Intrigued, Shiloh carefully moved her foot around on the tiny square, delighted as the little arrow continued to move with her.

_Now why doesn't Grissom have one like this for me to play with? There's no mouse just this little slippery pad thing that I can use._

After about forty-five minutes of Texas hold-'em, Shiloh carefully shut off the machine, so as not to arouse suspicion, and toddled over to the couch in search of a remote. She wasn't disappointed when she learned that Nick had cable, but there was a separate remote for it so juggling between volume and channel meant cozying onto the couch with a remote under two of her feet. One pressed the up arrow on the cable remote while the other rested lightly on the volume of the other; the cable was gently nudged aside when Shiloh landed on an episode of _Friends_ that centred on the plight of Chandler Bing in search of a way to propose to his girlfriend Monica. It was one of Shiloh's favourites and made her smile inside when at the end Monica tearfully agreed to be Chandler's bride. Shiloh fleeting wondered if Grissom would ever ask Sara the same question, but this thought was interrupted by the sound of an engine being shut off in the driveway. Quick as lightening, Shiloh shut off the TV, nudged away the remotes and scurried as quick as her legs would carry her back up to the counter. Just as soon as she'd landed back in her tank, the door opened and a beautiful redheaded woman wearing purple-framed glasses and a warm looking sweater came through the door, cursing lightly.

"Goddamn bags in the way," Renee murmured as she dropped the plastic grocery bags on the floor by the kitchen counter. She paused in toeing off her shoes as she saw the tank with the furry creepy-crawler in there. "Hello there," she said warily, "you must be Shiloh."

The spider scooted forward a little in her cage, making Renee leap backwards. Shiloh sighed inwardly; the girlfriend was not scared of spiders, she was downright terrified. Pressing a friendly foot against the glass, Shiloh stretched upwards hoping to reassure this kind looking woman she was far from the devil incarnate. Deciding to just sit and watch her, in order to learn how to approach Renee without scaring her, Shiloh turned herself around in the tank and watched as Renee put away groceries and sang along with the radio she'd turned on. The woman had a nice musical voice that Shiloh liked. Listening to it, she found herself quite drowsy and within minutes, had drifted off to sleep.

The following morning Shiloh awoke to a brilliant stream of sun coming through the windows, through the glass of her tank. Through the air-holes in the top she could smell a fruity scent, one that initially made Shiloh want to throw up last-night's crickets since it reminded her of Sara. But then Shiloh remembered that her new 'project' – meaning Renee – had put bananas and mangoes on the counter near her tank. The smell of the mangoes was making Shiloh hungry, and she wasn't disappointed to see her breakfast crickets already deposited by her plant. As she munched away, she could see the red-head sitting at the desk – no wait, she wasn't sitting, she was slumped over, face first near the computer.

_That's not how humans sleep. They sleep lying down on couches in front of TVs_. Alarmed, Shiloh dropped her cricket and tapped her front legs on the glass hoping to draw the girl's attention. When this didn't work, Shiloh knew it was time for drastic measures, the kind that would make her a hero if she ever had any grand-kids.

Dropping her cricket, Shiloh bumped the door of her cage and hopped out, moving stealthily along the counter, and then hopped down onto the table. Taking even more care, she gently walked onto Renee's arm and tried to shake her.

_Please wake up, please wake up_.

In about three seconds, Shiloh wished the lady had stayed asleep.


	3. Kiss and Make Up, So to Say

Renee slowly blinked herself awake, yawned hugely. She liked getting up with Nick when he came home in the mornings, and tried to get work down, but this morning that just wasn't happening. Stretching her neck, Renee went to lift her arms above her head and then she saw it: the hairy devil-beast from the tank had escaped and decided to nest on her shoulder.

Shiloh recognized the light in the woman's eyes. All she could think was _Oh, mother damn, big mistake._

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Renee screamed at the top of her lungs. She leapt out of her chair, sending Shiloh flying off of her arm. "NICK!"

Renee raced into the bedroom, threw herself across Nick's body as she all but burst into tears. She didn't care if she woke him up; she needed her big strong Texan to hold her.

"Nick, wake up!"

Nick peeled open an eyelid, pulled out an earplug. "What is it, honey?"

"That- that-that _thing_," Renee spluttered, "is _loose_!"

"What thing?"

"That demon creature of Grissom's! I fell asleep at the computer and it _escaped_! It was _sitting on my arm_!"

Nick winced at the sharp shrill of her voice. He'd never heard her like this, and he could see she was dangerously close to tears. "What?"

"NICK! THAT GOD-DAMN _THING_ ESCAPED AND WAS GOING TO BITE ME!"

It took him a moment to realize she was talking about Shiloh; when this registered, he realized what exactly had happened. Renee was deathly afraid of spiders and Shiloh had probably gotten out. Sitting up, he pulled his girlfriend close, hoping to soothe her.

"It's okay baby."

"You're not babysitting any more of Grissom's pets. I don't care how that sounds, but I mean it. I shouldn't have to feel this terrified in my own house."

"I know sweetie." Nick kissed her forehead, then got up out of bed, padded into the kitchen where he found the spider sitting near the keyboard of Renee's laptop. He held out a hand, waited patiently for the tarantula to crawl onto his palm. When Shiloh did so, Nick held her to eye level.

"Listen, I know you probably like to explore in Grissom's house, but you and I had this little talk earlier, remember?"

Had she been able to, Shiloh would have been crying great big tears of remorse that she'd scared the pretty lady so badly. Instead she lifted one of her legs and gestured to the computer.

When Nick turned his head and saw it, he smiled. Only Grissom could have trained a spider to type, he thought as he read the words, _I did not mean to scare the lady, I thought she was hurt. I am sorry_ on the screen.

"Well that's very sweet of your Shiloh, but even so you have to stay in the tank."

So saying, Nick deposited her back in the terrarium and made sure he secured the lid. When he went back to the bedroom, he saw Renee there trembling with fear.

"Is she back in her cage?"

"Yes. And she apologized for scaring you too."

"Cute."

"She did."

"Okay, Nick." Renee sighed, leaned her forehead against his bare shoulder. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Nah, it's fine. Makes me feel all manly when you get scared like that."

"You're a sick, sick man."

"And you love me."

"Yeah I do."

Later in the afternoon, Shiloh sat in her tank, watching Renee work at her computer, and about every five seconds, Renee would look over to make sure that Shiloh was still in her tank. Shiloh had pressed her legs up against the glass in order to lean closer and figure out what Renee was working on. Then suddenly, Renee stopped her typing, got up and grabbed the tank, holding it at eye level.

"Listen, you scary little spawn of Satan, I'll make you a deal. No more Houdini like tricks and you can sit by me in the tank on the couch okay? That way I can keep an eye on you until Nick gets home."

Since the spider couldn't nod, Renee took the taps on the front of the glass to mean an assent. Holding the glass container like it was a bomb, Renee transported it to the couch where she placed it on one end of the couch, grabbed the remotes and parked herself on the next cushion over. As she flipped through the channels, she heard an incessant tapping on the glass when she came to an episode of _Friends_. Renee looked down at the bad-ass bug.

"What? You want to watch _Friends_?"

Another bout of incessant tapping ensued.

"Okay."

Shiloh kept a couple of her eyes on the screen and a few more on Renee. Perhaps she wasn't as scared as Shiloh thought she might be. Then she turned around when she heard Nick come in, and he sat between Shiloh and her new friend. He gave the glass a friendly tap and wasn't disappointed when the tarantula pressed a hairy foot up against his fingertip.

"Grissom called you, Shi. His conference was cancelled and he's going to be home early to pick you up tonight."

"Aw do I have to go back home so soon," Renee said in a squeaky voice behind him, pretending to speak for the spider.

Nick turned around and grinned at her. "I thought you couldn't wait to get rid of the 'demon-creature'."

"Eh, maybe she's not so bad."

Impressed, Shiloh suddenly found her thoughts turning to Sara.

_Maybe I should give her a chance, like Renee gave me_.

With this in mind, Shiloh patiently waited with her new friends for her boyfriend and his human girlfriend to come home.


End file.
